Blackouts Averted So Far

Triple-digit Heat Taking High Toll Among Elderly

July 26, 2006|By Blaine Harden The Washington Post

The 50-person refrigerator at the morgue in Fresno, Calif., is full, primarily with the bodies of elderly people who are believed to be victims of a sustained blast of triple-digit heat that has tormented most of the state in the past two weeks.

"I have never seen these kinds of numbers," said Loralee Cervantes, the coroner in Fresno, where she said the temperature outside her office Tuesday was 110. "There are so many we can't keep up."

California edged away from mandatory electricity blackouts Tuesday as slightly cooler air -- although still in the low 100s -- began to filter across much of the state.

A day after the nation's most populous state shattered its record for electricity consumption, power managers said clouds and lower temperatures in coming days would lessen the likelihood of rolling blackouts.

"At this point, if everything remains OK, then we are all right through the day," said Kristina Osborne, spokeswoman for the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state power grid. "It is supposed to cool as we go through the week."

A power emergency on Monday required some businesses to curtail power use in exchange for lower electricity rates. It has ended, although residents were being warned to conserve power and limit the use of large appliances during daytime hours.

Most of the heat-related deaths occurred in the Central Valley. In Fresno, the coroner said many victims collapsed inside their homes and were found somewhere other than in their beds.

"Some people had power outages, some can't afford to pay their bills, some were using fans, and we had one case where a man was scared of the sound of his air conditioner," Cervantes said. She said most of the dead were 65 to 80 years old.

With the heat wave, residents across Southern California have put up with multiple, widely scattered power outages as hundreds of overtaxed power-pole transformers have blown up or otherwise stopped functioning. More than 50,000 homes and businesses were without power Tuesday.

The aging electricity-transmission grid in and around Los Angeles could not handle the spiking power demands that came with persistent high temperatures on top of a booming population and houses full of air conditioners and computers, according to regional utilities.